#GE2015

My other half is standing for election for the Green Party here in Trumpington. Needless to say, just one week out things get a little frenetic and emotional at times.

I do my obligatory stints putting leaflets through doors and write the odd letter to the paper and keep an eye on the local media to feed back what Ceri doesn’t notice as she doesn’t look at the local paper on line.

If things get too frenetic I take time out, wander up to the allotment and walk to the chair that sits in the apiary. Sometimes I sit there to look for something specific. Are the bees taking pollen into all the hives? What colour pollen are they collecting letting me make a better guess as to where they are foraging.

But times like these, I just watch or as I usually call it, do my stint at air traffic control! One year I was doing this while one of the hives swarmed. Suddenly, the frenzy of an upcoming election seemed quite calm. Thousands of bees were in the air at once and while my knowledge of them tells me that their flights are not just random it doesn’t feel like that.

Then I saw that a ball of bees was starting to form on the nearby hedge and lots of bees were flying in that direction. Within ten minutes order and cam were restored and there was a large cluster of bees hanging down.

Half an hour later I would be collecting the swarm of bees to put into an empty hive.

Of course if the pundits are to be believed, it will take a lot longer before order is restored this year even after the votes have been counted!

Perhaps that is why I work as an aromatherapist and massage practitioner rather than going in to politics?